FreeMeshX Global 2.0 – Release Announcement

FreeMeshX Global 2.0 – Release Announcement

FreeMeshX is a global terrain mesh replacement for the stock terrain mesh and features LOD10 (38-m) coverage for almost the entire world. LOD10 is equal to the same terrain level of detail used for the USA in the stock scenery. The rest of the world varies from LOD6 to LOD9. FreeMeshX was created to bring the rest of the world up to the LOD10 standard as much as possible, although some regions of the world in the higher latitudes are still limited to LOD9 (76-m). Compiling the source data into LOD11 yields neglibible improvements and is mostly a waste of precious hard drive space.

FreeMeshX features LOD10 (38-m resolution) coverage for:

North America (A separate LOD12 USA mesh is available for beta testing)

Europe

Asia

Africa

Australia and Oceania

A few regions are limited to LOD9 (76-m resolution):

Antarctica

Greenland

Russian territories north of 60 N latitude

FreeMeshX was compiled using over 400 GB of raw terrain data. The final size of the product is 46 GB, making it one of the largest freeware projects ever for FS. It wouldn’t be in everyone’s best interests to download all 46 GB at once, so we are releasing the product the product into continental regions for a total of 7 regions total. Each continent contains a number of 10 deg x 10 deg titles, mosaiced from 1 deg x 1 deg tiles into a 2.5 GB file, and then compressed into a BGL file. Defragmentation is highly recommended for mechanical hard drives to ensure smooth and quick loading.

Largest improvements are found in regions that contained mainly the default LOD6 and LOD7 meshes. These included remote regions of Africa, South America, Antarctica, and Asia. Europe and Canada sees some improvement, but it’s LOD9 mesh is just a one level upgrade to LOD10. Subtle improvements for these previously LOD9 regions will be found mainly in the accuracy of the mesh and level of detail in mountain ranges.

DOWNLOAD:

NOTE: DUE TO THE EVERY INCREASING COSTS OF FILE HOSTING, WE HAVE SUSPENDED THE AUTOMATIC DOWNLOAD SCRIPTS.

NEW INSTALLATION METHOD:

FreeMeshX Global 2.0 is a convenience update to introduce the new installation and download method that should alleviate the difficulty of installing FreeMeshX for some users. If you are already installed and patched to version 1.07, then there is no need to reinstall. A 2.01 update will introduce some additional terrain fixes soon.

Included is a command-line based download system that uses the free and open-source wget tool to retrieve each installer and its associated parts. The entire download process is contained with a batch file that will commence automatically by simply double-clicking on it. Note, do not run the installer as administrator — the downloader will fail. The download process is fully resumable, so those with slower download bandwidth can stop the download, and resume it at a later point. The installer will automatically detect where it left off and resume. The installers for each region are comprised by an .exe file and several .bin files if necessary. All of these files for each region must be downloaded completely into one folder before the installer .exe can be run. A downloader batch file is included for each region, and an all-in-one batch file is included for those who want to download the entire set in one go. A raw list of download links is also available who prefer to download the files through their own methods.

Interior view of the extracted download folder:

Example of the download tool working:

A list of MD5SUMs is also included for those who want to directly verify the integrity of any or all files. A map is also included to illustrate how the world is divided up into regions.

FreeMeshX Global 2.0 is cumulative. It includes all patches to each region, and an updated “FreeMeshX – Patches” folder where miscellaneous fixes belong. There is no need to download the old 7-ZIP parts from 1.0 – 1.07. They are fully incorporated into version 2.0.

INSTALLATION:

These installers will install each FreeMeshX Global region into a directory of your choosing. We highly recommend installing FreeMeshX Global OUTSIDE of your C:\Program Files directory.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO ADD THIS FOLDER TO YOUR SIMULATOR’S SCENERY LIBRARY. This installer will not automatically add a Scenery Library entry (we don’t want to accidentally corrupt your scenery.cfg). There are many tutorials online on how to add a Scenery Library entry for your simulator.

We try to modify your system as little as possible. Therefore, no registries and no uninstaller are created. To uninstall FreeMeshX Global, simply delete the installed folder. We designed the installer this way so that you will have the full flexibility to do with FreeMeshX as you please e.g. such as moving it to another drive.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

FreeMeshX does not update any vectors in the simulator. Vectors control the elevations of water bodies such as lakes, ponds, and rivers, and the elevations of airports. The mesh cannot alter these. Using FreeMeshX without a 3rd-party package to update the vectors within the simulator will result in the topography of the updated terrain to lie at different elevations while the vectors still remain at their inaccurate elevations. This mismatch will lead to artifcacts such as raised or sunken airports and waterbodies that will break immersion. Therefore, it is HIGHLY CRITICAL that the simulator’s vectors are updated as well, such as through FTX Vectors or UTX, or the topography system of the simulator will be INCOMPLETE. We officially recommend the use of FTX Vectors because all of our testing incorporates it, and it uses elevations derived from the SRTM dataset, the same dataset we use for FreeMeshX Global. To conclude, it does not make any sense to use a global mesh without using any updated vectors. Likewise it does not make sense to use updated vectors without using an updated mesh.

FreeMeshX is officially supported for FSX, FSX:SE, and all versions of P3D (including 64-bit P3D).

FreeMeshX should be placed above the default terrain entries in the Scenery Library, and below any airports or FTX Regions or landclasses.

– Incorporated new installers and an automatic downloader to easily fetch installers over HTTP
– New installers are up to date with all previous patches (1.01 – 1.07)
– High-resolution 50 GB USA mesh now available through sign-up beta process